Let's open our Bibles together
to Psalm 150. Psalm 150. Praise ye the Lord. Praise God
in his sanctuary. Praise him in the firmament of
his power. Praise him for his mighty acts.
Praise him according to his excellent greatness. Praise him with the
sound of the trumpet. Praise Him with the psaltery
and harp. Praise Him with the timbrel and
dance. Praise Him with the stringed
instruments and organ. Praise Him upon loud cymbals.
Praise Him upon the high-sounding cymbals. Let everything that
hath breath praise the Lord. Praise ye the Lord. Let's pray
together. Our merciful and gracious heavenly
Father, we take great hope in knowing that you've promised
to attend the assembly of your children with a manifestation
of your grace and your glory. Lord, we come before your throne
of grace looking in faith to thy dear son, confessing to you
our need for grace, We long, Lord, to know your glory, and
we pray that you would be pleased to bless this meeting tonight
with your presence and with your power. We pray that you would
open the eyes of understanding. We pray that you would cause
us, Lord, to believe all that you have declared in your perfect
holy word. We ask it in Christ's name, amen. Same hardback hand, could you
turn to number 361? You may remain seated on this
hand. Number 361, sweet hour of prayer, 361. sweeter a prayer that calls me
from the world again and hits me at my father's throne Make all my wants and wishes
come. In seasons of distress and grief,
My soul has often found relief. And all has gained a tempter's
stare, And faithfulness engage the waiting
soul too. And since he bids me seek his
face, Believe his word, and trust his grace, I'll cast all in my
every care, And wait for his grace. May I thy consolation share,
till from that pious love divine, I view my home and take my pride. This robe of flesh I'll drop
and ride, to seize the everlasting Farewell. I love that. Our Lord called
this place a house of prayer. And I hope that he will be pleased
to answer our prayers tonight. We're going to be looking at
several passages of Scripture. The first one you'll find in
Hebrews chapter 4, if you'd like to turn with me there. Hebrews chapter 4. I've looked up many passages
of Scripture where the Lord tells us in his Word how he sees things. And my hope and prayer tonight
is that the Lord will enable us to see things as he sees them. That's the way that we really
are. However, God sees a thing is how it is. We all see things
differently, don't we? We filter what we see and what
we hear through the screen of our own experiences and through
our own perceptions, and we come to the conclusion that the way
we see it is the way it is, but oftentimes the way we see things
is not the way it is. You've heard someone say perception
is reality. No, it's not. It's not. It might be the reality to the
person who's perceiving it, but it doesn't mean that it's real.
We perceive so many things that aren't consistent with the way
God says they are. And so I pray tonight that the
Lord will enable us as we go through his word to see things
as he sees them, in his sight, in his sight. Scripture says
that all the ways of a man are clean in his own sight. You know, we see things and then
we convince ourselves that the way we see it is the way it is.
And we justify what we see by saying, well, I'm right. And
it's clean in my sight. He goes on to say that, In Proverbs chapter 12, verse
15, the scripture says, the way of a fool is right in his own
eyes, but he that hearkeneth unto counsel is wise. Oh, we
can be so foolish when we come to the conclusion that the way
we see things are, in fact, the way they are. And yet the Lord
says, the wise hearken unto my counsel. and they come to believe
that the way I see it is, in fact, the way it is. Those who really want to know
the truth want to know how God sees things. It's really all
that matters. How we see it is irrelevant. Our opinions really don't count
if they're not consistent with what the Lord has given us in
his word as to what he sees. And so faith just believes God,
doesn't it? And so if the Lord is pleased
to bless us with faith to believe him, then we'll leave this place
saying, well, that's the way God sees it. That's the way it
is. Proverbs chapter 21 verse 2 says,
every way of a man is right in his own eyes. Every way of a
man is right in his own eyes, but the Lord pondereth the heart. The Lord knows what's right,
even when we convince ourselves that what we think is right is
right. How many times we've said, well,
that's the way I see it. Doesn't really matter how we
see it, does it? matters how God sees it. What liberty and
what freedom there is in knowing that our ways are not God's ways
and our thoughts are not God's thoughts. As the heavens are
high above the earth, so are his thoughts above ours. Isaiah chapter 51, or Isaiah
5 verse 21 says, Unto them, therefore, that are
wise in their own eyes and prudent in their own sight, woe unto
them." Woe unto them that are wise in their own sight and prudent
in their own sight and reject the things that God has said
to be true in his sight. Proverbs chapter 30 verse 12
says, there is a generation that are pure in their own eyes and
yet are not washed from their filthiness. A generation that
is pure in their own sight. They've come to the conclusion
that they're acceptable to God in their own sight. And yet the
Lord says they've not been washed from their filthiness. Men, by nature, make themselves
out to be God. And they reject what God says
and choose their own opinions. The Lord has plainly told us
in his word how he sees those things that are most important,
those those matters of the soul, the matters of salvation, the
matters of who God is and what he's doing and how he sees us. And so, as we go through his
word, Lord, give faith through hearing and cause us to leave
this place believing that the way you see it is, in fact, the
way it is. You have your Bibles open to
Hebrews chapter 4. We'll begin reading in verse
12. For the word of God is quick.
That means it's alive. It's a living word. This is not
just words. This is the inspired Word of
God. It's living, it's effectual,
it's sharper than a two-edged sword, which is what he goes
on to say. It's powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword,
piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit and
of the joints and marrow and as a discerner of the thoughts
and intents of the heart. So we go to God's Word that he
might be pleased to expose the intents of our hearts and reveal
to us the truth of how he sees things. Look at the next verse,
verse 13. Neither is there any creature
that is not manifest in his sight. God has perfect vision. He sees
everything exactly as it is. And he's given us in his word
a revelation of how he sees things. I love that passage where our
Lord said, Father, I thank thee that thou hast hid these things
from the wise and the prudent. The fool who chooses the way
he sees it over the way God sees it. And the Lord said, Father,
I thank that thou hast hid these things from those who are wise
and those who are prudent in their own sight. For even so,
Father, it seemed good in thy sight. In thy sight. The Lord reveals these things
unto babes because that's good in his sight. He has perfect vision. He sees things exactly as they
are. You and I may be able to debate about something in terms
of how we see it differently from one another, but when God
says this is the way it is, then faith just says, amen. That's
the way it is. That's the way it is. Let's read
verse 13 again. Neither is there any creature
that is not manifest in his sight, but all things are naked and
open unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do. We have to
face God. And without faith, it is impossible
to please God. They that come to him must believe
that he is. And so faith just bows. to what God says he sees and
how he says it is. And not only does he have perfect
sight, and not only does he give faith to believe, but he does
it By grace, look at the next verse. Seeing then, seeing then
that we have a great high priest that is passed into the heavens,
Jesus, the son of God, let us hold fast our profession. What
is our profession? Jesus Christ is God. That's our
profession. And as God, he has finished the
work of redemption. As God, he is omnipotent, he's
sovereign, he's immutable. And he's always right. So we hold fast to our profession. We have an advocate with the
Father. That's our profession. Jesus Christ, the righteous one.
Seeing then that God sees everything as it is, we have a high priest
who's seated in the heavens. Look at verse 15. For we have
not a high priest which cannot be touched with the feelings
of our infirmities. Now there's our problem, isn't
it? We're like Naaman when he came
to the prophet to be cleansed of his leprosy and he said to
his servant, he said, well, I thought, well, that's our problem, isn't
it? He said, I thought the prophet would come out and that he would
wave his hands and that he would, you know, put on some kind of
show and that he would cleanse the leper. Remember he called
himself the leper. or he called himself a leper
is what he did. Uh, he thought he cleansed a leper. And, uh, no, he did refer to himself as
he said that the leper, as if it was somebody else. And he
was the problem. Look at, uh, look at the last part of verse
15, but was in all points tempted As we are yet without sin, let
us therefore come boldly, come with confidence before the throne
of grace that we might find mercy and help in our time of need.
That's how we come. The Lord understands. He understands
that we're made of dust. He understands that we have feelings.
And that those feelings often drive us to make conclusions
about things that are inconsistent with what the truth is. And so,
you say, I sympathize with the feelings of your infirmities.
I was tempted. I was a man. I was in the flesh
and I know, but I didn't sin. I was without sin. And so we
have an advocate. We have the Lord Jesus Christ. compassionate, sympathetic Savior
who understands that when we see things, that those are coming
out of the feelings of our infirmities. They're not coming out of the
truth of God's Word. Job said in Job 15 verse 14,
behold, he, speaking of God, putteth no trust in his saints. Yea, the heavens are not pure
in his sight. So the Lord said, you know, he's
not going to put his trust in us. He's not going to change
his, the way he sees things to conform. You know, we're, we're
always trying to get people to see things the way we see them,
aren't we? And we get in conversation with somebody and well, you know,
we're debating and convincing one another to see it like we
see it. And God says, I'm not going to
be influenced by the opinions of my people. The heavens aren't
even pure in my sight. He goes on to say the moon and
the stars are not pure in his sight. How much less that is
a worm. Why would God have any need or
any interest in being influenced by our opinions? But we have
great need. And by God's grace, we have great
interest in being influenced by how He sees it, knowing that
how He sees it is the way it is. How does God see man? left to himself. He tells us
in Romans chapter 3, he says, when I look down your throat,
I see an open sepulcher. I say nothing in you but death. That's what we are by nature.
Why would God be influenced by that? That's what he sees. And
so he goes on to say in Jeremiah chapter 17 that the heart is
deceitful and desperately wicked. Who can know it? God knows it.
He knows every thought that we have, every imagination of the
heart. He knows it. And in Genesis chapter 6, he
tells us that it is evil continually. And someone objects to that and
said, well, I'm not evil continually. And every, and I'm not, my heart's
not deceitful. I'm sincere and honest and truthful. And my throat's not an open sepulcher. I've got life in me. God said,
well, that's not the way I see it. Not the way I see it. Are you going to believe what
I see? Or are you going to believe what you think you see? You say,
well, I can't see myself that way. You know what? Believe God. Just believe God. You can't see yourself, and aren't
you thankful that you don't see? Your throat is an open sepulcher.
Aren't you glad that you don't see that every imagination of
the thought of your heart is only evil and that continually?
Aren't you thankful that you don't see that your heart is
desperately wicked and that you can't know it? If the Lord showed
us how he sees all of that, we wouldn't be able to look at ourselves
in the mirror, much less show ourselves in public before anyone
else. here's the point, this is what God sees. So if God says
it's true, then it's true. It's the way it is. Lord, amen. Amen. That's the appropriate
response to what God says. So how can that which is unclean
be made clean? How can a sinner can a sinner,
one who's described in these terms that we just quoted from
God's Word as to how he sees us, how can they be justified
in the sight of God? Can we clean it up? Can we clean up the outside of
the of the cup? Can we wash the tomb? What are
we going to do in order to be justified in the sight of God?
Well, God tells us. Turn with me to Romans chapter
three. Romans chapter three. The Lord tells us. Verse 19. Now we know that what
things soever the law saith that saith to them that are under
the law, that every mouth may be stopped and all the world
may become guilty before God. There's the purpose of the law. It just causes us to say, Lord,
your law is holy and just and good. And I've never kept one
iota of it. Never been able to satisfy one
bit of it. It leaves me wanting. It reveals
the glory of Christ and exposes me of having nothing like him. So look at the next verse. Therefore,
therefore, how's this unclean gonna be clean in the sight of
God? Therefore, by the deeds of the law, there shall no flesh
be justified in his sight. In his sight, we can justify
ourselves to ourselves or perhaps to one another by good behavior. Your children justify themselves
to you by good behavior, but in the sight of God, in his sight,
no flesh shall be justified by the keeping of the law. But now, look at the next verse,
but now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested
being witnessed by the law and the prophets. All the penmen
of scripture have been, have given witness to that which God
sees as righteous. which God sees as perfect, how
are we going to be justified in his sight by the righteousness
which God has established and which he has witnessed by the
law and by the prophets, even the righteousness of God which
is by faith of Jesus Christ. It's his faithfulness that makes
us accepted in the sight of God. We're accepted in the beloved
and only in the beloved. Unto all and upon all them that
believe for there is no difference for all have sinned and come
short of the glory of God being justified freely by his grace
through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. The Lord Jesus
Christ bought his people with the price of his precious blood. He didn't offer that blood to
us. He offered it up to his father and his father accepted that
blood sacrifice. And his father said, on the blood,
when I see the blood, I'll be satisfied. I'll pass by you. And God saw the travail of his
soul and God was satisfied. Amen. So there's our hope. There's our hope. No flesh can
be justified by the law in his sight. Oh, but when God saw the
travail that the Lord Jesus Christ suffered on Calvary's cross,
and when God saw that blood put on the mercy seat in heaven,
God said, justified. Justified. Righteousness has
been established. Our Lord said in Luke chapter
16 to those Pharisees, you justify yourself before men, but God
knoweth the heart. God knoweth the heart. He knows
every thought, every imagination, every motive, every intent. You
know, brethren, you know this is true and I've said it before.
Don't check your motives too closely. They're always going
to be tainted. know they're just and they're
tainted a whole lot worse than we see them to be aren't they
so you know the Lord said you justify yourself before men but
God know at the heart and then he goes on to say and that which
is highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight
of God If we try to justify ourselves before God in the way in which
we justify ourselves to one another, that which is highly esteemed
among men is an abomination in the sight of God. Genesis chapter
one, verse four says, God, remember that darkness was upon the face
of the deep and the earth was without form and void. That's
a picture of us outside. And God said, let there be light.
And there was light. And God saw the light that it
was good. And God called the light day. And he called the, he separated
the light from the darkness. Isn't that what God's doing right
now? He separates the light from the darkness. He makes us to
differ. He shines the light of the gospel
in the hearts of his people. And everyone else remains in
darkness. They will not come to the light, the Lord said,
because their deeds are evil. They don't want them exposed
for what they are. And so he separated the light
from the darkness and he called the light day and he called the
dark night. walk in the light while it is
day. Is that not what the Lord said? For I am the light of the
world. Scripture says precious in the
sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. What does that mean? Obviously
it means that when We pass from this life to go home to be with
Him, that that's precious in His sight. It's precious in the
sight of the Lord when He sends His angels to take one of His
children home to glory. Is that the only time that we
die? Scripture says in the covenant of grace before the foundations
of the world that Christ Jesus is the lamb that was slain. Were
we not always seen in Him? Did we not die in that covenant
when Christ agreed to become our surety before our Father?
And was it not precious in the sight of the Lord when not only
Christ died before the foundation of the world, but all those that
He died for in Him were included in that death? Paul said, I am
crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ
liveth in me. The life that I now live, I live
by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and died for me. So when Christ bowed his mighty
head on Calvary's cross and cried, it is finished, did we not die
in him? Did all of God's elect not die
in Christ? Of course they did. And so it
was precious in the eyes of the Lord, the death of his saints.
When they died in the covenant of grace before the foundation
of the world, when they died in Christ Jesus on Calvary's
cross, and when they hear the gospel for the very first time
as the gospel, and they're brought to die to themselves and to their
own righteousness and come alive unto God, looking unto Christ
for all their righteousness, that's a death. That's a death. And Paul said we die daily. Our
flesh is very much alive, isn't it? And it rears its ugly head
continually and we have to keep coming to faith in Christ and
experiencing this spiritual death over and over and over again.
And so precious in the eyes, when did God's people die? They
died in Christ before the foundation of the world. They died with
him on Calvary's cross. They died when the Spirit of
God exposed them for what they are and revealed Christ to them
as their life. They die daily and they shall
die when they're caught up together with him in the air and be made
like him. Precious in the sight of the
Lord is the death of his saints. It's precious. Turn with me to Hosea chapter
six. Hosea chapter six. How shall we then live in his
sight, in the sight of God? How shall we then live? Hosea
chapter six, verse one. Come, come. The spirit and the
bride say, come, Hosea six verse one, come and let us return unto
the Lord for he hath torn and he will heal us. He has smitten
and he will bind us up. After two days will he revive
us. And then the third day he will
rise us up and we shall live in his sight. You see, not only did we die
with Christ, But we raised with him as well. That's what baptism
is a picture of. Buried with Christ in baptism
and raised to walk a new life in Christ Jesus. We are confessing
our union with the Lord Jesus Christ in our death, burial and
resurrection. How shall we live in his sight?
Oh, he has torn us, but he shall rise us again the third day.
The third day when Christ raised from the dead. we raised with
him. That's why Paul said, oh, that
I might know him. And the fellowship of his suffering,
that when he suffered, I fellowshiped in that suffering. And the power
of his resurrection, when he was raised from the dead, the
power of God raised me with him. Here's how we're going to live
in his sight. You see that in verse two? This
is in his sight. Though we were dead in our trespasses
and sins, he has raised us up together with Christ and caused
us to sit with him in heavenly places. God's people are in Christ
right now in the heavens. When the Lord Jesus Christ, as
the Word of God, returned unto his Father, he did not return
void. He returned with his people. And that's where we are. That's
how we're gonna sit. This is how God sees his people,
in his sight. Though by nature we're an open
sepulcher, though by nature our thoughts are evil continually,
the Lord, through the redemptive work of the Lord Jesus Christ,
through his death, burial, and resurrection, ascension into
glory, God says, now this is how I see you. This is how I
see you. If God should mark iniquity,
who should stand? If God charged us with one sin,
how could we stand in his sight? How could we stand in the presence
of God? Turn with me to Colossians chapter one. We make no, attempts to justify ourselves
in the sight of God. If the Lord Jesus Christ doesn't
justify us, no, to the contrary, we take sides with God against
ourselves. We agree with God. We say, Lord,
that's what you say I am, that's what I am. And I'm dependent
upon Christ in order to be accepted in thy sight. Colossians chapter one, look
at verse 20. Well, we'll begin reading in
verse 19. For it pleased the Father that
in him should all fullness dwell. And having made peace through
the blood of his cross by him to reconcile all things, unto
himself by him I say whether they be things in the earth or
things in heaven and you that were sometimes alienated and
enemies in your mind by wicked works yet now hath he reconciled
in the body of his flesh through death to present you holy and
unblameable and unreprovable in his sight. There's our hope, brethren. You
say, well, that's not the way I see it. That's the way God
sees it. Holy, unblameable, unreprovable through the redemptive work of
the Lord Jesus Christ in the sight of God. Who are we going
to believe? Who are we going to believe? Is there any hope? For a sinner
to be sinless in the sight of God, yes, yes. And found in Him, looking in
faith to the Lord Jesus Christ, holy, unblameable, and unreprovable
in the very sight of God. Well, that'll inspire you to love Him,
to believe Him, and to not have any confidence in your flesh. God sees the poor and needy.
He gives grace to the humble. In Luke chapter 7, after the
Lord raised that centurion's servant, you remember the centurion
that said, Lord, I understand authority. I'm a man of authority.
And I know that you have all authority and I'm not worthy
that you should come under my roof, but only speak the word
and my servant shall be healed. And the Lord goes and raises
him from the dead. And right after that, the scripture
says, he went to a city called Nain. And there was a widow. who was also a grieving mother
in a funeral procession, having a funeral for her only son. And the scripture says, the Lord
looked on her and had compassion on her and went over and touched
that corpse and said, son, rise. And the scripture says immediately
he sat up on his bed and started talking. Oh, the Lord has pity on the
fatherless and the widow, the poor and the needy, those who
cannot care for themselves. He sees them and he has compassion
on them. In 1 Peter 3, verse 4, the scripture
says, a meek and quiet spirit in the sight of God is of great
price. It is of great price. It is of
great value in His sight. Meekness and humility and quietness
won't get you very far in this world. No, you've got to be forceful. You've got to demand your rights.
You've got to be loud and arrogant if you want to get by in this
world. Because the way men see things is not the way God sees
it. But in his sight, he says, the
meek and the lowly and the quiet are of great price in my sight,
in my sight. How shall we then live in the
sight of God? Turn with me to 1 John chapter
3, 1 John chapter 3. Look at verse 22. And whatsoever we ask, we receive
of him, because we keep his commandments and do those things that are
pleasing in his sight. And this is his commandment,
that we should believe on the name of his Son, Jesus Christ,
and love one another as he gave us commandment. Now that's a
work of grace in the heart, isn't it? For the Lord to give us faith,
to believe on his son, Jesus Christ. And when he does, he
causes us to love one another. Turn with me back to the book
of Hebrews chapter 13. Hebrews chapter 13. This is our
Lord's prayer. Through the writer of Hebrews,
for his people. Hebrews chapter 13, look with
me at verse 20. Now the God of peace, the God
of peace that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that
great shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the everlasting
covenant. Now remember everlasting doesn't
mean it started at one point and lasts forever. When God speaks
of that which is everlasting, it means it didn't have a beginning
and didn't have an end. And here he calls the blood and
the everlasting covenant. That's the lamb that was slain
before the foundation of the world, and that's the lamb that
will secure us in glory for all eternity. That's that blood. Look at verse 21. Make you perfect
in every good work to do his will, working in you that which
is well-pleasing in his sight. through Jesus Christ, to whom
be glory forever and ever. He gets all the glory, doesn't
he? All the glory. You know, oftentimes what we see as our need and what
God sees as our need are different. And so we often pray amiss, as
James says, because we're interested in more temporal, fleshly things
than we are in the spiritual things. And so, turn with me
to the book of Ecclesiastes. Ecclesiastes. Chapter two. You remember when Solomon was given by God
an opportunity to ask for anything he wanted, he asked for wisdom. And God was pleased that he asked
for wisdom and he made him the wisest man that ever lived. And
he gave him riches and wealth on top of that. But, and then,
The writer of Proverbs in Proverbs chapter 30 said, Lord, give me
neither poverty nor riches. Feed me with the food that is
convenient for me. Now, I looked up that word convenient,
and it means statute or decree. Statute or decree. Now what the
writer of Proverbs is saying is, Lord, don't give me poverty
nor riches, but give me exactly what you decreed for me to have. That's what it means to be content. Lord, what I have is exactly
what you intended for me to have. Look at Ecclesiastes chapter
two, verse 26. For God giveth to a man that
is good in his sight, wisdom and knowledge and joy, but to
the sinner he giveth travail to gather and to heap up that
he may give to him that is good before God. This also is vanity
and vexation of spirit. God gives to a man that which
is good in his sight. Lord, give me that which is good
in... We pray for things, we pray for
temporal things. And we always pray with Lord,
to be thy will. Give me what's good in your sight
and make me content with what I have. But Lord, give me wisdom,
give me faith. Grow me in your grace. Give me
more of the knowledge of Christ. Make me a, make me, give me love. Give me the fruit of the Spirit,
joy and peace and long suffering and temperance and patience.
Lord, give me those things that are necessary, necessary for
life. God gives to his people. that
which is good in his sight. And God's people say, by faith,
amen, amen. The way God sees it, that's the
way it is. Our merciful heavenly Father,
bless your word with the gift of faith and cause us to bow
to what is good in thy sight. For it's in Christ's name we
ask it, Amen. 185. Let's stand together. 185.
? Glorious things of Thee are spoken
? ? Zion, city of our God ? ? He whose word cannot be broken ?
? Formed Thee for His own abode ?